You may have already heard the news (or even seen it among new things in the drugstore) that Catrice released a new chocolate inspired palette, which unsurprisingly is also very high on my wishlist. The news of that palette made me think of other such palettes by Catrice, namely the Absolute Nude and Absolute Rose versions, since I already have the Absolute Matt palette. I am a huge fan of the latter and I think it's probably the best such palette in the drugstores here. Absolute Nude was the one that started the whole line and I'm kicking myself for not picking it up earlier because it's such a lovely palette, while the Rose one is from the spring revamp and I heard mixed opinions about it, ranging from it's terrible to it's amazing. I find a bit repetitive, but worth the purchase.
CATRICE Absolute Nude Eyeshadow Palette
010 All Nude
Absolute Nude contains a collection of neutral eyeshadows, ranging from light to dark and all are shimmery or with a satin finish (just the last one), but I love especially the medium shades, as they are great one-wash colours. I like that there is also a variety of hues - gold, rosy, bronze and deep taupe.
The first shade is a very shimmery light gold-beige and its best use is as an inner corner highlight. The second is a neutral shimmery shade with a rosy hue and it might be similar to All that Glitters by Mac. Third is a classic medium brown shade, similar to YDK from Urban Decay, only a bit more rosy and it's my favourite in the palette. The forth is a old gold-brown shade that reminds me of Patina by Mac, except it's more brown. The last two are cool toned browns that look very similar on the eyes, but the fifth shade is a bit lighter and not as cool as the sixth.
CATRICE Absolute Rose Eyeshadow Palette
010 Frankie Rose to Hollywood
The rosy-purple theme is obvious in this palette and it definitely drew inspiration from the popular Urban Decay's Naked 3 palette. I don't own any such shades from before, as my collection mostly consists of warm bronze and taupe eyeshadows, so this was a great way to expand my shade range. The one thing I'm not too happy about is the variety of shades. Two pairs of colours look the same on my eyes, so the selection of available colours is reduced to four.
First two shades are light as well as sheer, so there isn't much difference between them on the eyes. The first one is a light pink with a satin finish and the second one is a bit darker pink again with a satin finish. The next two shades also appear almost identical when swatched, the only difference is that one is cooler medium rosy brown and the other a warmer version of this colour, but on the eyes there is no difference as far as I'm concerned. The fourth shade is a matte medium taupe shade, which has a slight purple hue, and it's brilliant. It's so soft, creamy and pigmented that it's almost like a cream eyeshadow. The last shade is a deep warm purple with red shimmer, which was probably inspired by Mac's Beauty Marked. It's nicely pigmented, but it doesn't actually look purple on the eyes, instead it's more like deep brown with red shimmer.
The quality of the eyeshadows is nice as far as I'm concerned. They of course don't feel as silky and aren't as pigmented as Urban Decay's for example, but they are nice enough, especially for the price. However, I think that the Matt version is far superior in terms of quality to both of these. Absolute Rose palette is less pigmented on a whole, but that taupe shade is such a pleasant surprise. It seems that Catrice knows how to make excellent matte eyeshadows, while the rest leave some room for improvement. I like the quality of the Rose palette, but I miss variety. I've been wearing Nude version a lot more because I find that such shades suit me more that rosy colours. I mostly wear that medium brown YDK-ish shade with the darkest cool brown, but I really miss a matte base shade, like the first one in the Rose palette. I can't report anything significant about the staying power of either of these. They last well enough for me and I don't expect them to last all day. These also don't crease on me.
These cost 5.29 € and I got both of them in Müller. I can't wait for the chocolate version.
Have a great day!